Tag: Trinamool

  • Revisiting Bengal’s chequered history of political violence in last 70 years

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Violence has been an integral part of West Bengal politics since the late 1950s, interspersed by periods of calm.

    Feeding the culture of violence was the economic slowdown over the past decades, with some people having to migrate and the rest making do with modest jobs, even as incumbents on this land, who usually enjoyed a long run, interweaved their interests in the state’s social fabric.

    With the Calcutta High Court ordering a CBI probe into the “heinous crimes” that marked the aftermath of assembly elections in West Bengal, the reminder that the state, which boasts of its politically conscious population, has violence entrenched in its legacy grew starker.

    A five-judge bench of the court, in its order, has observed that “women were raped and houses of certain persons who had not supported the party in power were demolished”.

    According to sociologists, historians and analysts, just like politics, over the years, have evolved from being ideologically driven to identity-oriented, reasons for violence, often employed by various parties to make their presence felt, have mutated, with clashes now centered around turf control and not the establishment of principles or ideals.

    Experts also believe that unemployment, poverty, overt dependence on political parties and the government of the day to earn a living, bitterness among political activists at the grassroots level and the domination of a single party for years could be grounds for violence.

    “Due to the rise in unemployment over the last three-four decades, people in rural and semi-urban areas have mostly become dependent on the government to make a living, and ruling parties have used this dependency to their advantage. Also, the prevalence of illegal arms is another key reason,” social activist and professor of economics Saswati Ghosh said.

    Echoing her, other sociologists stated that multiple triggers which have accumulated since the pre-independence era have led to the violent nature of Bengal politics.

    “Bengal was a hub of revolutionary activities during the pre-Independence period. Then violence during Partition, followed by the Tebhaga movement, and the Naxalite movement in the sixties acted as triggers. Now, however, violence happens mostly due to economic reasons,” emeritus professor of sociology, Presidency College, Prasanta Roy, maintained.

    Noted Historian Sugata Bose believes that the dominance of a single party for too long has been one of the root causes of the problem.

    “Initially it was clashes between the communists and the Congress, then came the Naxalite period during which various factions of communists sparred. When the Left was in power, they used intimidation to rule over common people. Long history of single-party domination, especially 34 years of Left rule, is one of the key reasons behind the state’s legacy of violence,” Bose, Gardiner professor of oceanic history at Harvard University, told PTI.

    A quick look at Bengal’s political history will reflect how blood-soaked political movements have been the order of the day.

    Post-Independence, the state had its first brush with violent politics in the form of the Tebhaga Movement between 1946 and 1948, with landowners supported by the Congress engaging in a conflict with the then undivided Communist Party of India-backed peasantry, who demanded a two-thirds share of harvest for the sharecroppers.

    The food movement of 1959 and the students’ movement of the early sixties were equally bloody, leading to deaths of several people both in inter-party clashes and police crackdown.

    Frequent dismissal of the anti-Congress United Front government in 1967 and 1969 also sparked clashes and skirmishes in parts of the state.

    The fierce Naxalite movement of 1967, led by Charu Majumdar, had left Bengal in a state of disarray.

    Rampant killing of class enemies such as landlords, law enforcers, and political opponents had prompted the police to unleash a brutal crackdown.

    Another blot on the state’s political landscape was the Sainbari killings in 1970, which eclipsed every act of brutality as brothers owing allegiance to the Congress were hacked to death by the alleged supporters of Left, and their mother was reportedly forced to eat rice smeared with the blood of her sons.

    Post Operation Barga in the early 80s — under which plots were distributed among landless farmers and a new class of landowners was created in rural Bengal — sporadic scuffles were recorded in parts of Bengal.

    Mass upheavals that had led to bloodshed and earned the state the dubious distinction of being “politically violent”, however, gave way to turf war in the later years, with parties using threats and intimidation to strengthen their foothold in the state.

    After the creation of the TMC in 1998, key stakeholders of opposition politics changed, but violence continued unabated.

    At least 14 people were in police firing during the Nandigram anti-land acquisition movement in 2007, and several others lost lives in political violence between the TMC and the CPI (M).

    Between 2008 to 2011, Maoist insurgency, targeting Left cadres in the Junglemahal area, led to the death of more than 100 CPI(M) workers.

    The episode revived memories of the turbulent 60s and 70s.

    With the TMC storming to power in 2011, a more structured form of violence was witnessed in 2013 and 2018 panchayat polls, with the party bagging rural bodies without having to take part in a contest.

    Shortly after, the BJP replaced the CPI(M) as the main opposition, and political skirmishes largely got limited to two parties.

    The saffron party, which bagged a major chunk of assembly seats but failed to seize power in the April-May elections, has alleged that more than 100 party workers have been killed in Bengal earlier this year.

    According to the NCRB data, Bengal topped the chart in political murders in 2019.

    Former ADG and whistleblower IPS officer Nazrul Islam feels that the “politicisation of police force” is the key reason for the “prevailing lawlessness”.

    “This politicisation began during the Left rule, and the circle got completed in the TMC rule. If the police administration is allowed to work freely, violence can be checked within a month,” he asserted.

    All major parties have agreed that violence has to take a back seat for the state to make rapid strides towards development and industrialisation, but did not dither from shifting blame on its political opponents.

    “Yes, this culture of political violence has to stop. The communists have imported this culture since the sixties, and it was institutionalised during the three decades of Left rule. But after we came to power in 2011, we did not pursue vendetta politics. The BJP now is trying to incite political and communal violence in the state. All stakeholders must shun this culture,” senior TMC leader and a veteran in Bengal politics, Saugata Roy, said.

    The Left leadership, on its part, held the TMC responsible for “criminalising politics”.

    “These allegations that Bengal always had a violent history are being made to justify the sins of the TMC. The ruling party has criminalised politics in Bengal,” CPI(M) politburo member Mohammed Salim claimed.

    BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said the onus of ending the culture of violence lies with the ruling party.

    “The Left may have brought in this culture, but the TMC, like a student, mastered this art of killing and intimidation. Thousands of our party workers have been rendered homeless, and several have been killed in post-poll clashes,” he alleged.

    Political analyst Suman Bhattacharya feels this cycle of violence might end as and when “we stop making politics an integral part of our daily life”.

    “In Bengal, it’s a do-or-die battle for the parties and that has only led to a chain of violenct incidents. Both the government of the day and the opposition have an equal role to play to end this cycle,” Bhattacharya added.

  • Opposition parties to organise joint protests across country from September 20-30

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The leaders of 19 Opposition parties announced on Friday that they will organise joint protests and demonstrations across the country from September 20 to 30, even as they urged people to save India for a better tomorrow.

    After a virtual meeting of the Opposition parties, where they stressed on unitedly moving forward to defeat the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the leaders also put out an 11-point charter of demands before the government.

    The demands include a Supreme Court-monitored investigation into the Pegasus snooping row and a high-level probe into the Rafale fighter jets deal, a repeal of three new farm laws, early elections in Jammu and Kashmir and the release of all political detainees in the Union Territory.

    “We will jointly organise protest actions all over the country from 20th to 30th September, 2021,” the leaders said in a statement after the virtual meeting convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

    They said the forms of these public protest actions will be decided by the respective state units of their parties, depending on the concrete conditions of the Covid regulations and protocols in the states.

    These forms, amongst others, may include dharnas, protest demonstrations and hartals, they said in the joint statement.

    “We, the leaders of 19 Opposition parties, call upon the people of India to rise to the occasion to defend our secular, democratic, republican order with all our might. Save India today, so that we can change it for a better tomorrow,” they said.

    Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Opposition leaders said his Independence Day address did not focus on a single issue concerning people’s miseries.

    ALSO READ | Opposition meet: Mamata moots panel of leaders to decide on programmes to fight BJP

    “The speech was full of rhetoric, empty slogans and disinformation. In fact, it was a repackaging of earlier speeches given in 2019 and 2020. This speech is an ominous warning that the lives of our people will continue to be ruined further,” the statement said.

    The leaders also strongly condemned the manner in which the Centre and the ruling BJP disrupted the Monsoon Session of Parliament, refusing to discuss the alleged illegal use of the Pegasus military spyware to conduct unauthorised surveillance, a repeal of the three “anti-farmer” laws, the gross mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation and price rise as also the spiralling unemployment.

    All these and many other issues affecting the country and its people were deliberately ignored by the government, they alleged.

    “Apart from denying the Opposition their right to raise crucial issues concerning the country and the people, the government steamrolled legislations through the din of the disruption caused by its handling of both Houses of Parliament,” they said.

    Stating that the Centre should come clean on the Pegasus snooping issue, the parties also asked it to clarify on whether it bought the Israeli spyware and demanded a probe monitored by the apex court.

    “The government must answer and come clean. Such surveillance is not only a gross violation of people’s fundamental right to privacy but is an attack on Indian democracy and democratic institutions,” the Opposition leaders said.

    “Hold immediate Supreme Court monitored judicial enquiry into the use of Pegasus spyware for surveillance of people and a high-level investigation into the Rafale deal — the cancellation of the earlier order and placing of a new order at a higher cost,” the statement said.

    The leaders also attacked the government over the country’s economy and for allegedly pushing crores of people into joblessness, poverty and hunger.

    “We reiterate our support to the struggle launched by the farmers under the banner of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha,” they said.

    The parties demanded a repeal of the three “anti-agriculture” laws and a guarantee on MSP to farmers.

    The Opposition leaders also criticised the government over its handling of COVID-19 and called for an immediate ramping up of the vaccination drive to help prevent a third wave of the pandemic.

    They said the Centre must implement free cash transfers of Rs 7,500 per month to all families outside the income-tax bracket and distribute free food kits to all needy people, besides withdrawing taxes on petrol, diesel and LPG cylinders.

    Former prime minister Manmohan Singh and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi were also present at the meeting.

    Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav wrote a letter to the Congress president and expressed his inability to join the meeting.

  • Post poll violence in West Bengal: PIL petitioner files caveat in SC

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: One of the PIL petitioners, on whose plea the Calcutta High Court ordered CBI probe into all heinous cases during the post poll violence in West Bengal, Friday filed a caveat in the Supreme Court urging that no order be passed without hearing him if the state or other litigant move appeals against the verdict.

    A five-judge bench of the High Court, headed by Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal, on Thursday ordered a CBI investigation in all alleged cases of heinous crimes like rape and murder, while accepting the recommendations of an NHRC panel, in West Bengal after the assembly poll results this year in which the ruling Trinamool Congress Party came back to power.

    The unanimous verdict came on a batch of petitions including the one PIL filed by lawyer Anindya Sundar Das raising the issue of violence taking place in various parts of the state after the state assembly elections.

    Das, in anticipation of the fact that the aggrieved parties, including the state government, may file appeals against the verdict, filed the caveat in the top court to ensure that he is heard before any order is passed on the pleas to be filed in the apex court.

    The high court bench, which also comprised justices I P Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Subrata Talukdar, has observed that there were “definite and proved” allegations that complaints of the victims of violence in the aftermath of the West Bengal assembly polls were not even registered.

    Ordering setting up of an SIT to probe all other cases, it has said that it will include Suman Bala Sahoo, Soumen Mitra and Ranveer Kumar, all IPS officers of the West Bengal cadre.

    “All the cases where, as per the report of the Committee, the allegations are about murder of a person and crime against women regarding rape/attempt to rape, shall be referred to CBI for investigation,” it said.

    The high court has also directed the NHRC committee, constituted by its chairman on a direction by the five-judge bench, and any other commission or authority and the state to immediately hand over the records of the cases to the CBI to carry forward the probe.

    The bench said it will monitor the investigations by both the CBI and the SIT and asked the two agencies to submit status reports to the court within six weeks.

    It has said that the working of the SIT will be overseen by a retired Judge of the Supreme Court for which a separate order will be passed after obtaining his/her consent.

    In its ruling, the bench has said heinous crimes such as murder and rape “deserve to be investigated by an independent agency which in the circumstances can only be Central Bureau of Investigation.”

    The bench has said the State failed to register FIRs even in some cases of alleged murder.

    “This shows pre-determined mind to take investigation into a particular direction.”

    “Under such circumstances investigation by independent agency will inspire confidence to all concerned,” it has noted.

    It said allegations that the police had not registered a number of cases initially and that some were registered only after the court had intervened or the committee was constituted were found to be true.

    It observed that the facts in relation to the allegations made in the PILs are “even more glaring” as the incidents are not isolated to one place in the state.

    The NHRC committee had on July 13 submitted its final report to the court.

    An interim report of the NHRC committee had mentioned that Atif Rasheed, a member of the committee, was obstructed from discharging his duty and he and his team members were attacked by some undesirable elements on June 29 in Jadavpur area on the southern fringe of the city, the court noted.

    The PILs had alleged that people were subjected to assault, made to flee homes and properties were destroyed during the violence in the wake of the assembly elections, sought impartial probe into all such cases, and demanded protection of life and liberty.

  • CBI seeks from Bengal DGP details of cases reported during post-poll violence

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The CBI has written to the West Bengal director general of police to provide details of all cases of murder, attempt to murder and rape reported during post-poll violence in the state, officials said on Friday.

    The agency sought the details of such cases from the director general of police in line with a Calcutta High Court order that directed the CBI to take over cases related to murder, rape and atrocities against women during the violence.

    The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has set up four teams, each headed by joint directors Ramnish, Anurag, Vineet Vinayak and Sampat Meena, to probe the political violence which ensued after the victory of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on May 2 in a bitterly fought eight-phase assembly poll in West Bengal.

    Each team will have about seven members, including a deputy inspector general and about four superintendents of police, called from across the country, the officials said.

    The overall probe will be supervised by Additional Director Ajay Bhatnagar.

    The Calcutta High Court on Thursday had ordered a CBI inquiry into alleged killings, rape and crimes against women during post-poll violence in West Bengal.

    A five-judge bench, passing a unanimous judgment on a batch of PILs seeking an independent probe into incidents of alleged violence after the polls which the ruling TMC won by an overwhelming majority, also ordered constitution of a special investigation team (SIT) to probe all other cases.

    The SIT will include Suman Bala Sahoo, Soumen Mitra and Ranveer Kumar, all IPS officers of the West Bengal cadre.

    The bench will monitor the investigations by both the CBI and the SIT, and it has asked them to submit status reports to the court within six weeks.

    It said that the working of the SIT will be overseen by a retired judge of the Supreme Court for which a separate order will be passed after obtaining his/her consent.

    In its ruling, the bench said heinous crimes such as murder and rape “deserve to be investigated by an independent agency which in the circumstances can only be Central Bureau of Investigation.”

    The bench said the state failed to register FIRs even in some cases of alleged murder.

    “Rather the violence which erupted after polls and declaration of results was state-wide. Number of persons had died. The women were raped. The house of certain persons who had not supported the party in power were demolished. Their other properties were damaged. Their belongings were looted including the chattels,” the court observed in its order.

    The bench said there are allegations that the complainants are being threatened to withdraw the cases and a number of cases of murder being claimed as natural death without recording FIRs and conducting investigation according to the procedure established by law.

    Noting that the West Bengal Police has not properly responded to allegations of inaction and tried to downplay them, the bench said, “It certainly needs investigation by an independent agency.”

    It said three months have lapsed since the matter was taken up by the court, but “no concrete action has been taken by the State, which could inspire confidence except filing affidavits and placing on record thousands of papers.”

    The bench ordered the West Bengal government to pay compensation to the victims of crimes in accordance with the policy of the State, after due verification.

    The compensation amount will be directly transferred to their bank accounts.

    The National Human Rights Commission committee had on July 13 submitted its final report to the court.

  • Opposition meet: Mamata moots panel of leaders to decide on programmes to fight BJP

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday proposed to form a core group of opposition leaders to decide on joint movements against the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

    Virtually attending a meeting of opposition parties convened by Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, the Trinamool Congress supremo asked the opposition leaders to keep aside differences and put up a united fight against the saffron party.

    “Let us forget who is the leader, let us keep our personal interests aside. Every opposition party should be brought in. People are the leader. Let us set up a core group and work together to decide on the next line of action and programmes,” a senior TMC leader quoted her as saying at the meeting.

    Banerjee also raised the issue of how “impartial institutions like the NHRC has been misused by the central government to malign opposition ruled state governments”.

    She also raised the farmers’ issue and torture allegedly unleashed by the Centre against states ruled by opposition parties, another TMC leader said.

    It is time to rise above political compulsions to realise the “ultimate goal” of winning the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Congress president Sonia Gandhi told top Opposition leaders on Friday as she pitched for a broad unity of the anti-BJP forces.

    The Congress will not be found wanting while working towards this goal, she said at a virtual meeting of the leaders of 19 Opposition parties, adding that the 75th year of independence is an apt occasion “to reaffirm our individual and collective resolve”.

    “Of course, the ultimate goal is the 2024 Lok Sabha election for which we have to begin to plan systematically with the single-minded objective of giving a government to our country that believes in the values of the freedom movement and in the principles and provisions of our Constitution,” Gandhi said.

    “This is a challenge, but together we can and must rise to it because there is simply no alternative to working cohesively.

    We all have our compulsions, but clearly, the time has come when the interests of our nation demand that we rise above those,” she added.

    Noting that the 75th anniversary of the country’s independence is indeed the most appropriate occasion “to reaffirm our individual and collective resolve”, Gandhi assured the Opposition leaders, saying “the Indian National Congress will not be found wanting”.

    The virtual meeting — one of the biggest gatherings of Opposition leaders in recent times — was attended by NCP’s Sharad Pawar, TMC’s Mamata Banerjee, Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray and DMK’s M K Stalin among others.

    Banerjee also urged the parties to keep their differences aside and work towards defeating the BJP in 2024.

    She proposed setting up of a core group to chalk out joint Opposition programmes.

    The meeting convened by Gandhi came after the washout of the recent Monsoon Session of Parliament due to a united Opposition’s demand for a discussion on the Pegasus snooping controversy, which the government declined.

    The Congress chief said the Monsoon Session of Parliament was a washout entirely due to the government’s “obstinate and arrogant unwillingness to discuss and debate urgent issues of public importance” such as the Pegasus row, a repeal of three “anti-farmer” laws, price rise, the assault on federalism and the institutions of democracy that affect each and every citizen of the country.

    In spite of this, the session was marked by the determined unity that all the Opposition parties demonstrated for over 20 days in both the houses, she said.

    “We functioned in a coordinated manner with daily discussions among our floor leaders.”

    “I am confident that this unity will be sustained in the future sessions of Parliament as well, but the larger political battle has to be fought outside it,” Gandhi said.

    She claimed that it was entirely due to the Opposition parties that the Constitution (127th Amendment) Bill was passed to restore the long-standing rights of the states to identify and notify the other backward classes (OBCs).

    The Congress chief blamed the government, saying the bill was required to rectify the mistake it committed three years ago and a subsequent ruling of the Supreme Court.

    She also said after their intervention, crucial changes were made in the policy of procurement of Covid vaccines, but as always, someone else has taken the credit.

    Gandhi said Pawar has raised with the government the issue of creation of the Ministry of Cooperation, which is a blatant interference in the constitutional rights and responsibilities of the states.

    The meeting was part of the Congress leadership’s efforts to unite various Opposition parties on key issues before the country, including the upcoming Assembly elections in some states and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

    Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI’s D Raja and Sharad Yadav of the Loktantrik Janata Dal were also present at the meeting.

    In a joint statement issued after the meeting, the Opposition parties said they will jointly organise protests all over the country from September 20-30.

    “The forms of these public protest actions will be decided by the respective state units of our parties, depending on the concrete conditions of the Covid regulations and protocols existing in the states. These forms, amongst others, may include dharnas, protest demonstrations, hartals etc.”

    “We, the leaders of 19 Opposition parties, call upon the people of India to rise to the occasion to defend our secular, democratic, republican order with all our might. Save India today, so that we can change it for a better tomorrow,” they added.

    The leaders who took part in the meeting were from TMC, NCP, DMK, Shiv Sena, JMM, CPI, CPI(M), NC, RJD, AIUDF, VCK, Loktantrik Janata Dal, JD(S), RLD, RSP, Kerala Congress (Mani), PDP and IUML.

    Leaders of AAP, BSP and SP were not present at the meeting.

  • Calcutta HC judge Kaushik Chanda, caught in Mamata’s crosshairs, now elevated by Collegium

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Kaushik Chanda, an Additional Judge of the Calcutta High Court whom the Supreme Court Collegium has appointed as a Permanent Judge, was in West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s line of fire over his alleged proximity to the BJP and the TMC leader had even opposed his confirmation.

    Justice Chanda had on July 7 recused himself from hearing a petition by the Trinamool Congress chief challenging the election of Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari from Nandigram after she expressed apprehension of bias against her by the judge.

    The Collegium headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana met on August 17 and approved the proposal.

    The statement was uploaded on the apex court’s website on Thursday.

    Besides Ramana, Justices U U Lalit and A M Khanwilkar are part of the three-member Collegium which takes decisions with regard to the appointment of high court judges.

    Seeking reassignment of her election petition to another bench, Banerjee’s counsel had also written to the Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, saying the chief minister “had objected to the confirmation of the Hon’ble Judge as a Permanent Judge of the Hon’ble High Court at Calcutta”, and as such, apprehends that there is a likelihood of bias on the part of the judge concerned.

    While recusing himself from the case, Justice Chanda had imposed a cost of Rs five lakh on Banerjee for the manner in which she had sought his recusal.

    He had noted in the order that Banerjee sought his recusal “since she apprehends that her objection against my confirmation as a Permanent Judge of this court is known to me”, and maintained that in his view, such a ground cannot justify recusal.

    The petitioner cannot seek recusal based upon her own consent or objection with regard to the appointment of a judge, the bench said, adding that a judge cannot be said to be biased because of a litigant’s own perception and action.

    “If such an argument is accepted, the election petition cannot be tried before this court since the petitioner, in her capacity as the Chief Minister of the State, has either objected or gave consent to the appointments of most of the Hon’ble Judges of this Court,” Justice Chanda had said.

    In his order, Justice Chanda had noted that a letter by the petitioner’s counsel to the Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court on June 16 seeking that the election petition be reassigned to another judge “contained highly confidential information concerning the appointment of a Judge of the High Court, and the petitioner, being the Chief Minister of the State, who took the oath of secrecy, was constitutionally obliged to maintain the secrecy of such information.”

    Releasing the election petition of Banerjee on an application by her for recusal expressing apprehension of bias, Justice Chanda said that he was doing so in order to thwart at the outset attempts by trouble-mongers to keep the controversy alive.

    He had noted that like any other citizen of the country a judge also exercises his voting rights in favour of a political party, but he lays aside his individual predilection while deciding a case.

    He had said that it is preposterous to suggest that a judge having a past association with a political party as a lawyer should not receive a case involving the said political party or any of its members.

    “The past association of a judge with a political party by itself cannot form apprehension of bias,” the bench said.

    “This proposition, if allowed to be accepted, would be destructive to the long-lived and deep-rooted notion of neutrality associated with the justice delivery system and lead to the unfair practice of Bench hunting to resist a fair adjudication by an unscrupulous litigant,” Justice Chanda observed.

    Noting that “the script was already prepared; the dramatis personae were ready to launch a well-rehearsed drama outside the Court,” Justice Chanda said, “On the own showing of the petitioner in the recusal application, it appears that the chief national spokesperson and leader of the petitioner’s party in the Rajya Sabha was ready by that time with two photographs of mine attending a programme of BJP legal cell in the year 2016.”

    Justice Chanda said that another member of Parliament of the said party also by that time, apparently, “was ready with a purported list of cases where I had appeared for the Bharatiya Janata Party as a lawyer.”

    Banerjee’s lawyers had suggested that Justice Chanda should recuse himself from the case since he was associated with the legal cell of the BJP before his elevation as a judge and had appeared in a number of cases on its behalf before the high court as a lawyer.

    Congress leader and Supreme Court advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing the TMC supremo, had submitted that “the Hon’ble Judge of this Hon’ble Court should be like Caesar’s wife, above suspicion”.

  • 250 held following scuffle with police ahead of BJP event in Bengal

    By PTI

    MAYNAGURI: Members of the Narayani Sena, an organisation raised by a group that demands a separate state carving out West Bengal’s Cooch Behar district, on Thursday engaged in a scuffle with the police in Jalpaiguri district ahead of a BJP programme to be attended by Union minister Nisith Pramanik.

    At least 250 members of the Narayani Sena were arrested in Maynaguri on various charges including attacking police personnel and violating Covid-19 norms, Jalpaiguri SP Debarshi Dutta said.

    The BJP condemned the police action claiming that no step is taken against the ruling TMC during its political programmes.

    The Narayani Sena members assembled at a guest house from where they were supposed to visit the Jalpesh Mandir, a famous temple in the North Bengal town, along with Pramanik after his arrival.

    A police team had gone to the guest house to enquire whether or not they had the mandatory Covid-19 vaccination certificates or RTPCR test reports, the SP told PTI when contacted.

    “The Narayani Sena attacked the police team, ransacked and damaged a couple of police vehicles and put up blockades at a national highway. We have arrested 250 of them under the Disaster Management Act and the Indian Penal Code for destroying government properties and attacking policemen,” he said.

    Four policemen were injured in the attack, Dutta said.

    Pramanik, the MP of Cooch Behar who was supposed to deliver a speech at the BJP’s ‘Shahid Samman Yatra’ programme, was trapped in the melee and was rescued by his personnel security guards.

    The Union minister of state for home later visited the temple where Lord Shiva is worshipped in the name of Lord Jalpesh.

    “This temple is a place of pilgrimage for all people of north Bengal. We, the people of the Rajbangshi community, are worshippers of Lord Shiva. I prayed for the welfare of all people of north Bengal. I also prayed for peace and tranquillity of the region,” Pramanik told reporters.

    Meanwhile, the BJP criticised the police for its action against the Narayani Sena members.

    “We condemn the police action. This has become the norm in Bengal. Whenever the BJP plans any programme, the police try to stop it citing Covid norms. But the rule doesn’t apply when the TMC takes out political rallies,” state BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya said.

    The Narayani Sena is an organisation raised a few years ago by the Greater Cooch Behar People’s Association to press its demand for a separate Greater Cooch Behar state on “ethnic grounds”.

    The Narayani Sena was also the name of the army of the erstwhile Maharaja of Cooch Behar.

  • HC to pronounce judgement on Bengal ‘post-poll violence’ on Thursday

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday will pass the judgement on a set of PILs seeking impartial probe into alleged post-poll violence in West Bengal.

    As per the ’cause list’ released by the high court on Wednesday, a five-judge bench presided over by Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal will pronounce the judgement on the matter.

    The bench had ordered the NHRC chairman to constitute an inquiry committee to probe accusations of human rights violations during the “post-poll violence”.

    The panel, in its report, indicted the Mamata Banerjee government, as it recommended handing over the investigation in grievous crimes like rape and murder to the CBI and said that the cases should be tried outside the state.

    The NHRC committee report said that other cases should be investigated by a court-monitored special investigation team (SIT) and for adjudication, there should be fast track courts, special public prosecutors and a witness protection scheme.

    Hearing in the matter was concluded on August 3 and the order was reserved by the bench, also comprising justices I P Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Subrata Talukdar.

    The PILs alleged that people were subjected to assault, made to flee homes and their properties were destroyed as a result of post-poll violence in West Bengal and sought an impartial probe into these and protection of life and liberty.

    Opposing the findings and recommendations of the NHRC committee report, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing the state DGP, had claimed during submissions that it was erroneous and biased.

    Claiming that a few members of the NHRC panel had links with the opposition BJP, he prayed that it should be rejected by the court.

    The committee had in its scathing remarks in the final report said, “This was retributive violence by supporters of the ruling party against supporters of the main opposition party.”

    Maintaining that the acts of violence resulted in disruption of life and livelihood of thousands of people and their economic strangulation, the report said, “The local police has been grossly derelict, if not complicit, in this violence.”

    Denying alleged inaction by the police, state Advocate General Kishore Dutta had submitted that suo motu FIRs were registered by the police in several cases apart from those in complaints sent by the NHRC.

    Appearing for the Union of India, Additional Solicitor General Y J Dastoor had submitted that it was ready to conduct a probe by any central investigating agency like the CBI as per the high court’s order.

  • Trinamool slams Congress for marking August 18 as Netaji’s ‘death anniversary’

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The TMC on Wednesday objected to a statement issued by the Congress observing August 18 as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s death anniversary and asked the grand old party to refrain from “hurting” the emotions of the Bengalis.

    Seven decades have passed since Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose went missing on this date in 1945, with some historians suggesting that he might have died in a plane crash in Taiwan, and others claiming that he survived the accident and lived in hiding for the rest of his life.

    The recurring demand by the freedom fighter’s family to bring back his purported remains from a temple in Japan for DNA examination has not been met with thus far.

    The Congress leadership tweeted a picture of Netaji with August 18, 1945 as the date of his demise.

    “We pay tribute to the hero of Indian Independence Movement Shri Subhas Chandra Bose. A valiant freedom fighter, a defiant patriot and a proud son of India. His contribution to the nation will be remembered and honoured till the end of time,” the party wrote on its official Twitter handle.

    The TMC leadership, on its part, asserted that the grand old party should not make such sweeping remarks without any concrete proof.

    “Strongly object to this tweet. This date of death is not proved. Both Congress and BJP govt didn’t try to find out the real facts regarding the last moments of Netaji. Don’t play with emotions of Bengal and India. First, prove the death. Publish the classified files.” TMC state general secretary and spokesperson Kunal Ghosh tweeted.

    Later, while talking to reporters, Ghosh said such comments not just “hurt the sentiments of the Bengalis” but show disrespect towards the legacy of the valiant son of India.

    On Tuesday, Surya Kumar Bose, the freedom fighter’s grandnephew, issued a statement, making a fresh appeal to authorities to facilitate DNA testing of Netaji’s purported ashes that have been interred in Japan’s Renkoji temple, in an to attempt to put a lid on the controversies surrounding his “disappearance.”

    Since Independence, the central government formed three inquiry commissions to unravel the mystery surrounding Netaji’s disappearance.

    The Shah Nawaz Commission (1956) and Khosla Commission (1970), formed by the Congress governments, said that Bose died in an air crash.

    The third one, the Mukherjee Commission (1999), formed by the BJP-led NDA government, rejected the plane crash theory.

  • More teeth for Trinamool in Tripura as ex-speaker Jiten Sarkar wants to join party

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that former Tripura Assembly speaker Jiten Sarkar wrote to her on Wednesday expressing his willingness to join the Trinamool Congress.

    Sarkar, a former Congress MLA, had joined the CPI(M) in 2016 before switching over to the BJP in 2017.

    “Former Tripura Assembly speaker Jiten Sarkar wrote to me today saying that he wants to join the TMC with many others. I have forwarded the matter to Abhishek,” she told reporters.

    Diamond Harbour MP and the chief minister’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee is the TMC’s national general secretary.

    “There is no democracy or law and order in Tripura, only goondaism and vandalism,” she said.

    Banerjee alleged that West Bengal TMC leaders visiting Tripura are facing harassment in various forms, including problems over their stay in hotels.

    “This will not go on as we will win Tripura. We want people of the northeastern state to take benefits of the welfare schemes that are running successfully in West Bengal,” she said.

    Accusing the BJP of causing violence against TMC leaders in Tripura, Banerjee claimed that the northeastern state’s governor did not give an appointment to her party leaders and asked them to visit after Independence Day.

    “On the other hand, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar sits with BJP leaders every evening,” she added.